common seal of their intention to make such representation and of the provisions which it is intended to propose in such representation; and the said churchwardens and surveyors of highways shall, immediately after receiving such notice as aforesaid, summon a vestry meeting of the parish, and submit such notice to the consideration of the said meeting; and such representation of the said metropolitan board shall be accompanied by a copy of all resolutions or statements that may have been made to the said board in writing by the said churchwardens and surveyors of highways, or either of them, by direction of such vestry meeting.

report of

health.

XLIII. The officer or officers of health for each parish Annual or district shall make an annual report (b) to the vestry officer of or district board of the sanitary condition of the parish or district, and upon the other matters set forth in the one hundred and thirty-second section of the firstlyrecited Act, and it shall not be necessary to append to the annual report of the vestry or district board, to be made in the month of June in each year, a copy of any other report of such officer or officers than such annual report.

Owners and

occupiers of

XLIV. It shall be lawful for the owners or occupiers of any land or premises in any parish, district, or part land may within the limits of the metropolis as defined by the

month's notice required by the 249th section of the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120, to be published in the London Gazette.

(b) The 198th section of the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120, directs that vestries and district boards shall append to the annual report of their proceedings, which they are required to send to the metropolitan board of works, a copy of every report which may have been made to them by their medical officers in the course of the past year. This provision dispenses with the necessity of appending a copy of every report made during the year, and renders it sufficient to append one annual report by their medical officers to the report of the vestry.

execute works of

drainage at expense (c).

their own

firstly-recited Act, with the consent and subject to the regulations and conditions hereinafter mentioned, to construct sewers at their own expense for the purpose of draining such land or premises; and it shall be lawful for any vestry or district board in whom the sewers in any parish, district, or part are vested, if they shall deem it just and proper so to do, to contribute out of the rates under their control applicable to the execution of works of sewerage to the cost of any sewers constructed for the purpose aforesaid.

(c) The intention of the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120, seems to have been that all sewers should be made by the public bodies having control over sewers; and there is no provision in that Act, with a single exception, making it incumbent on private individuals to construct sewers. That exception is in the cases falling within sect. 86, relating to the filling up of ponds, pools, &c., where the vestry and district boards are empowered to call on the owner or occupier to construct a sewer, if necessary, for the abatement of the nuisance. But they had no power under that Act to call on a party to construct a sewer for the drainage of streets or house property. See Clarke v. Vestry of Paddington, 5 Jur. (N. S.) 138. The Act in question proceeds upon the principle that all sewers should be constructed at the public expense, and that the public rates are sufficient for that purpose. But under the laws which prevailed before the passing of that Act it was considered the duty of private parties to build sewers for their own property, and notwithstanding the provisions in that Act, such parties have for the most part adhered to their former practice of applying for the sanction of the vestries, &c., to plans of sewers to be built at their own expense. A considerable proportion of the local sewers constructed since that Act came into operation, though nominally the work of the vestries and district boards, were in reality constructed by and at the cost of individuals, and there seems no valid objection to the construction of sewers by such parties under proper supervision and control. The important aid afforded to the rates by contributions from private parties may be gathered from the fact that even since the passing of the Metropolis Local Management Act in 1855, many miles of sewers in the metropolis have been annually constructed by private parties at their own expense. The absence of any positive provision in the Metropolis Local Management Act for compelling the construction of sewers by private parties where land has been newly let for build

to subinit

XLV. Any vestry or district board intending to con- Vestries, &c. struct any sewer shall, before commencing any works plans of new for that purpose, submit to the metropolitan board of sewers to metropolitan works a plan of the street or place in which it is proposed board (d). to construct such sewer, drawn to such a convenient scale or scales as the said metropolitan board shall direct, and there shall be shown on such plan the position, course, and dimensions of the proposed sewer, with a section or sections thereof, and such other particulars in relation thereto as the said metropolitan board shall deem necessary and require, and no such sewer or works shall be proceeded with without the approval in writing or contrary to the directions of the said board.

ing operations has induced persons to believe that vestries and district boards were compellable by mandamus to construct sewers in private streets and roads, and proceedings have in some instances been taken to compel them to do so. See Reg. v. Vestry of St. Luke, Chelsea, 31 L. J. (N. S.) Q. B. 50, and ex parte Cramp, cited in note (c) p. 41, ante. The power here given to vestries and district boards to contribute to the cost out of the public rates, where the work may benefit a larger district, is a useful one.

(d) The clauses from 45 to 51 inclusive embody regulations for the construction of sewers, and ensure the submission of proper plans and particulars before the work can bo sanctioned. They also effect a division of labour between the metropolitan and local boards, by which all applications from private parties first come before the latter, and they then communicate with the metropolitan board. These regulations are intended to render that provision of the 69th section of the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120, effectual, by which the making of new sewers is prohibited without the previous approval of the metropolitan board. Regulations in substance very similar to those embodied in these clauses have been for some time in operation under the byelaws of the metropolitan board; but many of those provisions, however salutary, seem to have been beyond the powers given to that board by the 202nd section of the Act. There is an early precedent for regulations of this nature in the 47 Geo. 3, c. 7, an Act relating to the Westminster commission, by which, previous to the construction of any new sewer intended to communicate with the sewers of the commissioners, notice to those commissioners was necessary, and such sewer was required to be made according to their direction.

Communications with

main sewers.

Private parties before branching sewers into main or district sewers to apply for sanction of

XLVI. Three clear days' notice in writing shall be given to the metropolitan board of works by any vestry or district board previously to the connexion of any sewer or drain with a main sewer; and the necessary junction or communication for that purpose shall be made by such vestry or district board to the satisfaction of the said metropolitan board,

XLVII. Every person other than a vestry or district board intending to make or branch a sewer, either into a sewer vested in the metropolitan board of works, or into a sewer vested in any vestry or district board, shall in the first instance lay the plan and section thereof bevestries, &c. fore, and apply for the sanction of, the vestry or district board of the parish, district, or part in which such lastmentioned sewers shall be situate; and no sewer shall be begun to be made by such person until the sanction in writing of such vestry or district board shall have been obtained.

Vestries, &c. before sanc

tioning sewers, to apply for

metropolitan board.

XLVIII. Before any vestry or district board shall sanction the construction of any such sewer they shall submit the plan and section thereof to the metropolitan approval of board of works for their approval, in the same manner as if such sewer were proposed to be constructed by such vestry or district board; and no vestry or district board shall sanction the construction of any such sewer without the approval in writing of the said metropolitan board first had and obtained.

Seven days

notice must be given

can be branched

XLIX. All persons intending to make or branch any drain into a sewer vested in the metropolitan board of before drains works shall, seven clear days before commencing any works for that purpose, make written application to the vestry or board of the parish, district, or part in which such.sewer shall be situate, accompanied by a plan showing such particulars as may be required by any byelaw or resolution of the said metropolitan board; and no such

into main sewers.

work shall be commenced until the sanction in writing of the said vestry or district board shall have been given.

as to aban

&c., of de

sewers pre

L. When it shall be desired to abandon either wholly Regulations or in part, or to extend, contract, or alter any design for donment, a sewer previously submitted to and approved by the alteration, metropolitan board of works, notice in writing of such signs for desire shall be given by the vestry or district board by viously apwhom such approval shall have been obtained to the proved. said metropolitan board, accompanied by plans and sections showing the nature of the abandonment, extension, contraction, or alteration desired; and no such abandonment, extension, contraction, or alteration shall be made without the previous approval in writing of the said metropolitan board; and no person other than a vestry or district board shall abandon wholly or in part, or extend, contract, or alter in construction, any sewer approved or sanctioned by the metropolitan board of works, without the previous sanction in writing of the vestry or district board in whose parish or district the works were intended to be executed, to be applied for and given in the same manner as herein before directed with respect to new sewers.

sewer be not constructed

months, fresh

LI. In case any sewer sanctioned and approved by In case the metropolitan board of works as hereinbefore provided shall not be constructed or executed within twelve calen- within 12 dar months from the date of such sanction or approval, application the works for the construction of such sewer shall not to be made(e). be executed without a fresh permission by the metropolitan board, and their written sanction that the necessary works for the construction of such sewer may proceed, to be applied for and obtained in manner hereinbefore provided with respect to the original permission for the construction of such sewer.

(e) There was a byelaw of the Westminster commission which contained a similar provision.